NFL REPORT.

Nfl's Hope: No More Coin Tales

December 01, 1998|By Don Pierson. Don Pierson covers the National Football League for the Tribune.

Moving quickly to avoid another Coin Toss Caper, the NFL announced Monday that team captains will be asked to call "heads" or "tails" before the referee flips the coin rather than while it's in the air.

In addition, the back judge and field judge, who traditionally walk the captains to midfield, will stay as ear-witnesses to the procedure.

The change was made after the Thanksgiving Day confusion when Pittsburgh's Jerome Bettis called "tails" and referee Phil Luckett heard "heads" for an overtime toss in Detroit. The Lions won the toss and moved to a game-winning field goal.

Luckett said Bettis started to say heads and switched to tails. Bettis and teammate Carnell Lake denied that version. "Tails" is all that is clearly audible on tape.

"All three individuals have excellent reputations and are known to be men of integrity, but their conflicting accounts do not resolve the matter," NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said.

Home in the dome: With the Atlanta Falcons joining the Minnesota Vikings as the first NFC teams to clinch playoff spots, the chances of making dome history increases.

No team that plays in a dome ever has made it to a Super Bowl. The Vikings, who got to four Super Bowls when they played outdoors, haven't returned since they moved inside the Metrodome in 1982. The Falcons never have come close, outdoors or indoors. They moved into the Georgia Dome in 1992.

The Falcons' final four games of the regular season are in domes--at Detroit and New Orleans and at home to Indianapolis and Miami. Presuming they host a playoff game and then play a title game in Minnesota, the Falcons wouldn't play outdoors again until the Super Bowl in Miami.

Eight NFL teams have played a combined 116 seasons indoors without reaching a Super Bowl. A dome team hasn't hosted a playoff game since 1994. A dome team hasn't won a home playoff game since 1991, when the Detroit Lions and Erik Kramer beat the Dallas Cowboys 38-6.

Dome teams are 0-6 in conference title games, all as visitors. Indianapolis (1995), Detroit (1991), Minnesota (1987), Seattle (1983) and Houston (1978-79) all fell a game short of the big one.

Ire of Mike: Packers coach Mike Holmgren didn't toss chewing gum at a heckling fan in Lambeau Field Sunday, but he admitted he was "embarrassed" for yelling back at halftime of his team's victory over Philadelphia.

Holmgren's future with the Packers has been the subject of much speculation, which doesn't sit well with all the Packer faithful.

"A gentleman in my opinion crossed the line," Holmgren said. "He got pretty personal, dealing with my family and my future. I reacted and I shouldn't have. I should have kept walking. It was just one person. We all hear the comments. This crossed over the line. I'm human too. When you start dealing with my family, I'm going to react in a certain way. It won't happen again."

Holmgren had ducked into the tunnel, but returned and engaged the fan for 15 to 20 seconds.

Perfect kickers: There are only two perfect place-kickers left. Surprise! They play for the 12-0 Denver Broncos and 11-1 Minnesota Vikings.

Denver's Jason Elam is 18 for 18 in field goals, including a record-tying 63-yarder. He is 47 for 47 in extra points. Minnesota's Gary Anderson is 21 for 21 in field goals and 45 for 45 in extra points. Anderson's 108 points ties him with Denver running back Terrell Davis for the league lead in scoring. That's the same number of points scored so far by the entire Philadelphia Eagles team.

Anderson, the league's oldest kicker at 39, acknowledged he is thinking of a perfect season.

"I definitely have recently," he said. "I wouldn't deny that."

He has played in 17 seasons but never had a start like this.

"I don't know if anybody's ever made 100 points at the start of the season without a miss. If you would have asked me at the beginning of the year I would have said you're out of your mind," Anderson said.

He needs to make his next six field-goal attempts to set an NFL record of 32 straight.

What's that again? After losing to the Broncos for the second time, Oakland Raiders running back Harvey Williams said: "The way Terrell was running the football and the way John (Elway) was throwing the football, it would take a miracle from God to beat them." But Williams still expects that miracle.

"They're good, but I don't see them going undefeated," Williams said. "Not in this day and age. They've got a good football team, but that's going to be tough to do."

Shaky Niners: With vice president Dwight Clark leaving the San Francisco 49ers to join Carmen Policy in building the new Cleveland Browns, the stability of the 49ers' dynasty has tumbled. Owner Eddie DeBartolo remains in limbo pending a Louisiana trial over influence-peddling in the awarding of riverboat casino licenses.

Policy left the 49ers as president in July to join Alfred Lerner as minority owner of the Browns.

"I don't know that it's a big problem but anytime there's unrest, it's there in front of the players. They read about it every day," Clark said.